Paradise - Easy or Hard?

When I tell you that Jake and I are planning to move to Maui the idea that this will be hard probably isn't what will come to your mind. Instead you will probably be excited for us, call us lucky, tell us how you would love to do something like this, or maybe even be a little jealous of us as we pursue our dreams in a land many consider paradise.

You probably won't be thinking that this is the hard choice for us. You probably don't realize that we've actually wrestled with this decision for a while now, and that it actually is quite difficult to say goodbye to all that is familiar to us, to face all the uncertainty of moving far away wondering if our careers will be able to sustain us.

As much as I'm excited about the prospect of going to Maui, of starting a new adventure with the one I love as we chase after the dreams God has put in our hearts, it doesn't mean that sometimes I don't doubt that this is God's best for me.

The reality for me is this: in Maui I will be 20+ hours of travel away from everything I know. All of my family will be thousands of miles away from me. I will have to find a new church and begin to make connections there. I won't know my way around town, or how to pronounce any of the road names—seriously, there are some whacky names in Maui, e.g. Honoapiilani Highway. I suspect I'll make a fool of myself many times as I learn to pronounce these names.

It's also hard because, sadly, I believe there is a good chance you won't ever come visit us because we will be so far away. People say they will come visit, and I have no doubt that they want to, but I know that life gets crazy and when it comes down to it spending a $1,000 on a plane ticket just isn't a realistic option for most people.

Life hasn't quite turned out like we had hoped it would here in northern New England, but that doesn't mean we're running away to go live in paradise. Staying in Vermont would be easy, not necessarily always enjoyable, but easy nonetheless—close to all our family, our church body, our support system, streets with names we can actually pronounce.

In many ways, moving to Maui is the hard thing to do.

As I sit here writing this, I'm deciding between selling, giving away, storing, or bringing with us items that once made our house a home. Every little thing we get rid of or pack away is another goodbye. It's hard to comb through old photos and remember all the things you love about home, then put them in box and wonder if you'll ever see them again.

But I think it's those hard things that we choose to do that God can use to grow us, mold us, and bring us more into the likeness of His image. By following the dreams He has placed on our hearts, we come closer and closer to living out His calling in our lives.